1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to waste disposal devices, and particularly to a bird carcass container for temporary storage of dead birds from a chicken house.
2. Description of the Related Art
Poultry, such as chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese, are a mainstay in the diets of many people around the world. The meat is relatively cheap and healthy for the consumer, and poultry is a source for other commonly used products, e.g., eggs and feathers. To meet the relatively large demands, any sizable farm has to raise and process significant numbers of poultry. In the process, there will inevitably be casualties among the poultry population, which, if not promptly disposed of, have the potential to cause widespread harm to the rest of the animals and ultimately to the consumers. A dead animal left for prolonged periods of time among the flock raises the potential for harmful bacterial growth, e.g., salmonella, botulism, and camplylobacter. This is more of a concern in today's climate where outbreaks of swine flu have surfaced.
To rid a facility of dead poultry, manual labor is commonly used to sweep the coop of the dead animals, where they are dumped in a centralized location or a bin. The resulting pile or bin must then be transported to a designated site to dump its contents for further processing. In the case of the former, the pile results in a disorganized mess that increases the time and effort required to remove the same, i.e., more physical strain on the manual labor and prolonged use of facility equipment, such as Bobcats™, skid steers or tractors. In the case of the latter, transporting the bin increases operational costs due to fuel and maintenance of the equipment.
Another method of disposal also requires manual labor, but a system of tracks and hooks are utilized to attach the dead carcass and automate delivery of the same to a disposal bin. While the above relieves some of the physical strain from the manual labor, the complexity, costs and maintenance of such a system may be unappealing to a majority of poultry farms with limited resources. It would be beneficial in the art to provide a means of disposing dead carcasses or wastes with minimal physical strain and more efficient use of facility equipment.
Thus, a bird carcass container solving the aforementioned problems is desired.